SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
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SCORE 2020 Class 7 Champion Dan Chamlee Etches A 16th SCORE Class 7 Championship Into The Record Books By Larry Saavedra Photos By Get Some Photo Consistency put SCORE Class 7 racer, Dan Chamlee, on the podium again after capturing his 16th SCORE Class 7 Championship with a third-place finish at the 53rd SCORE Baja 1000 presented by 4 Wheel Parts, and a second-place finish at the 52nd SCORE Baja 500. Chamlee’s huge accomplishment in 2020 as a privateer hasn’t gone unnoticed, especially since he competed against factory-backed teams, he kept his steadfast determination to run his race. Chamlee races with the kind of level-headedness that ensures the best possible outcome, he told SCORE Journal. Even if that means putting his ego in check. While others plant their foot on the throttle, while he drifts back waiting for the right opportunity to get by. SCORE BaJa 500 “At the 500 we made some fueling errors,” said Chamlee about the first race of the season. “I didn’t top-off just before the start and didn’t anticipate how much fuel I would use on the dry lake bed. I ran out of gas after running across it at 100-plus miles-per-hour.” With his TheFactoryRacing.com chase team hours away, he spotted a caravan of wrecked race vehicles being towed back across the dry lake and signaled for the tow vehicle to stop. “This SUV had the Herbst Trophy Truck and some buggies daisy-chained together, and that was my opportunity to get some quick fuel,” he said. “I told him I need fuel, and took the smashed fuel cell from Herbst’s truck and siphoned out about 8 gallons. I fired it up and made it to our next pit.” But Chamlee’s fuel problems didn’t end there. Because of some last-minute maneuvering, his fuel reserves never made it to the assigned pit stop, and once again, he had to beg and borrow to get back on course. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the absence of BFGoodrich Tire pits magnified the situation even more as the Baja Pits were overwhelmed at that race. Now hours behind the leaders, Chamlee in the 3.5L EcoBoost Ford retained his composure. “The truck ran good,” he said. “We would have been more competitive had we not had fuel issues. The factory Honda team was fast, but they were blowing through tires. So we went back and forth several times.” Chamlee said he ultimately just wanted to finish rather than pushing his truck to the breaking point. “It’s just not my style to overdrive it,” he said. He thinks his ability to look beyond individual race results and at the overall “season results” contributed to his record 16 Class 7 Championship wins. SCORE BaJa 1000 Going solo, he would have loved to put his troubles behind him going to the 53rd SCORE Baja 1000. But that didn’t happen. “The 1000 rattled our teeth out,” he said. “I don’t know what happened, but our suspension tuning from the SCORE Baja 500 didn’t work for the Baja 1000 course. “We got beat to death on the whoops.” Chamlee still doesn’t know what transpired, but looking back, he said there was nothing he could do on the spot and he and his navigator suffered through to a third-place finish. “The course was a bucket of snakes covered by a dump truck full of rocks,” he laughed. “Then 50 miles from the finish I snapped a snout off and lost my entire wheel hub assembly. Our team happened to find the snout assembly we needed in Ensenada, and I was able to cross the finish line.” Even with all the mishaps and misfortunes encountered by Chamlee in 2020, he still walked away as the Champion, earning the most in SCORE Class 7. A record that will be hard to beat. SJ